“You’re not sleeping with your assistant, are you?” she asks Aaron tartly.
“No, ma’am.”
“Of course, that can’t be said for the rest of your co-conspirators.”
Damn.
“Now, Linda, I got rid of Denise,” Isaacs whines. “Claire doesn’t work for me.”
“Yes, you left me for Denise yet were unable to keep her around even two weeks after the divorce was finalized.” His ex’s tone is sharp.
“I thought we were going to set boundaries, Benji-bear,” Claire says over the ears of her enormous corgi. “If we’re going to start a family.”
“Now, now, I said we could talk about it.” Isaacs is sweating.
Behind me, Aaron is silently downgrading the status of this port contract. I am going to be paying out the ass for insurance.
Though I’d known that Isaacs’s ex-wife was still on the board of Pacific Horizons, like Claire, I hadn’t expected her to actually be at this meeting. Surely she would want to be more of a silent partner, just take her check every month and not have to deal with her ex-husband on a daily basis.
Guess I underestimated an ex-wife wronged and her thirst for revenge.
Linda raises her voice. “You think that after you left me for your assistant, I’m going to approve a deal with a man who is also sleeping with his assistant?”
I’m floundering, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation.
“Yeah, I totally get it,” Mandy interjects. “Salinger is a piece of shit, absolutely.”
“Jesus, Mandy.”
She grabs my wrist. “But look on the bright side, at least I’m his age. The bar is in hell, but he cleared it.”
Linda’s mouth twitches into a smile before she can help it. “That is a point in his favor.”
Slipping into the role of the supportive girlfriend, Mandy immediately links her arm with mine.
Linda tamps down the smile. “Be that as it may, Salinger still hasn’t left behind his billionaire-playboy ways. This bar is classless.”
“I didn’t pick it—”
Mandy’s nails dig into my arm.
“Yes, it is overpriced—so absurd. I’m trying to break him of the habit.” Mandy rolls her eyes. “I don’t let him waste money. Salinger was complaining earlier about mydress, which I got for sale at Target, even though it’s perfectly good. People waste too much money on unnecessary things.”
Linda nods along like Mandy is spreading the gospel.
I keep my mouth shut.
Linda sits down. “Let’s get on with the meet-and-greet, then.”
“Yeah, they want us to order or relinquish the tables,” Mandy says.
“I can see you worked in food service.” Linda smiles approvingly.
“Best training for the corporate world there is,” Mandy chirps.
“The world would be much better if everyone had to work a customer-facing job,” Linda agrees.
“I have that printed on a mug.”
